My Jandek Plague Journal: 4/23/20 "Rooftop Sunset"

"I guess it’s time/Kept away for a while/Hide behind a smile/Travel many miles/I guess it’s time." Yesterday marked one month of doing this journal. At the time, the US had 408 deaths. Today, they have 42,209. Korea currently has 240, up by 2 since yesterday. Despite that difference, the thought of leaving Korea has been worming itself into my brain. As I said to a colleague today, I think it's the coronavirus I want to leave, and what better place to escape it than Korea? They asked if I was ever going back to the US, and I said "no." The situation there, regarding the pandemic and everything else, is only going to get worse. I'll visit occasionally, if I can safely visit and know I'll be allowed to leave again, but I won't stay. Despite the friends and family I have there, the real love that's there, the country has no place for me and is deeply invested in a politics that has no patience for those it has no place for. -4/23/20. "Rooftop Sunset" from Twelfth Apostle (lyrics) (one week earlier) (one week later)